June 6th, 2017
If all you knew of me was what you saw on social media than I’m so sorry. You must think I’m some social butterfly who has never had a single problem in her lil world traveling life. Like I sit and laugh continuously on Caribbean beaches with my bestest amigos 24/7. Let’s cut the crap and get honest for a minute. I wasted a lot of time struggling with community and learning how I fit into the body of Christ. For years I skirted around friendships because I was so afraid of getting hurt. I thought I was staying strong by drawing wide circles around myself, but in reality I was getting weaker and weaker without the community my soul so desperately craved. The thing that scared me most about the race was the idea of living in community. No joke. I was convinced I could never let anybody see the real me because if they did they wouldn’t like it.
I’ve heard the concept of community compared to a forest of redwoods. Redwoods, although massive in size and magnificent in nature, actually have shallow roots. The only reason they stay so strong and grow so tall is because they grow their roots outwards and link up with other redwoods around them. This allows for their foundation to be steady and growth to be inevitable.
This year I’ve had the privilege of experiencing community in its most raw and authentic form. I’ve spent every single waking moment with 5 other girls. And the Lord has taken my lies and insecurities about friendships and shattered them on the floor. He showed me how we were made to be like redwoods, widely rooted and interconnected with those around us. That’s how we grow strong, healthy community. That’s the beauty of the body of Christ.
So this one is for you, team Rooted. My homies away from home. My tribe. My team. For the past few months we have shared our hearts, souls, and our lives with each other. I never knew community could be so dang hard or so freakin beautiful. I straight up love y’all. I’m a hot mess of emotions these days as the calendar barrels forward and my time here is coming to an end. I just want to grasp time by the face and say, “STOP!” I want these moments to last longer. But time seems to stack itself into piles of enough and not enough. And all I can do is hold my palms open to what the Lord gives and takes away.
I spend every day with you. I wake up, eat breakfast, do ministry, cut up onions, wash clothes, eat popcorn, laugh, cry, and pray with you. Sometimes we can’t stop talking to each other and other times we’re ok with silence. On the good days and the bad days you’re still there. And if I’m being really honest, there is no one else i’d want by my side on this crazy journey. Out of every person in the whole wide world, I would still choose you as my sidekicks. Because what’s a thousands miles from home when I’m already surrounded by family?
You push me to be a better Amy. You tell me the hard things and call out the good things. You remind me of Truth and keep my eyes looking Up. You point me to the Sun when I forget where the light switch is. You help me look at the cosmos and connect the dots. You gently nudge me onward when I just want to curl up in bed. You put flesh and bone to the Word, and I see the gospel lived out in your lives always.
Our lives are full of seasons. Seasons that are marked by people and places and ideas that you hold dear and help you become the person you are. The world race is ending and a new season is emerging. One full of nostalgia and bittersweet moments. They say you become a conglomeration of those you surround yourself with. Well, the people around me are some of the most bold, hilarious, compassionate, and faithful people on planet earth, and I can only hope they rub off on me just a sliver.
Here is my cry to the world to let go of the superficial, shallow friendships that have no root, and dig deeper into the type of community God intended for us. Community that allows for vulnerability and pain. That doesn’t seek to compare, but rather, build up one another. I hope and pray that you, whoever you are that’s reading this, would find some people like this. People you can be authentically yourself with. People who will drop anything to pray with you, sit with you, and be with you.
Go and get yo self some human beings who you can know and love and who will do the same for you. It won’t be easy, but the payoff is worth it. Pinky promise.
